This disclosure relates to quantitative analysis of skin characteristics.
Skin lesions, for example, include tissue on or in the skin that has abnormal characteristics. In general, skin lesions are malignant, pre-malignant or benign and also can be categorized based on physical characteristics. Some skin lesions are pigmented and others are non-pigmented. Examples of pigmented malignant and pre-malignant lesions include melanoma, some basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas and actinic keratoses. Examples of pigmented benign lesions include low-grade dysplastic nevi, congenital nevi and seborrheic keratoses.
Dermatologists or other physicians determine whether a particular lesion on a patient's skin should be biopsied to rule out melanoma. The determination is especially difficult for early stage melanoma lesions which are similar to many benign pigmented lesions. Analysis by a dermatologist of malignant and benign lesions entails subjective visual assessment of lesion characteristics.